Burgess Law Office

Burgess Law Office. . , For many years, this structure was known as the “Constitution House” because it was thought to be where North Carolina’s Fifth Provincial Congress met in December 1776 to create the first state constitution. However, research and archaeology conducted in the 1970s indicate that the building actually postdates the eighteenth century., The house was built about 1806 and originally used as a residence. In 1821 Thomas Burgess, an attorney and nineteenth-century Halifax politician purchased it and probably used it as his law office until 1836, when he died., In 1916 the Elizabeth Montfort Ashe Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution of Halifax purchased , relocated, and restored the structure. In 1923 it was presented to the North Carolina Society, D.A.R. The D.A.R. donated the house , along with the property where it was standing, to the State of North Carolina. In 1975 the state moved the building back to its original location here., (Captions) , An article from the September 2, 1825 Halifax Free Press about an assault at the Burgess law office. Robert Potter, a friend and former law student of Burgess, was a candidate for the House of Commons in the election of 1825. He and his rival, Jesse Bynum, engaged in a bitter and sometimes violent campaign. On election day in 1825, a street fight broke out, which resulted in the election being cancelled and Halifax being without a representative to the House of Commons that year., Reconstructed in the new location, circa 1938. Francis Benjamin Johnston Collection, Library of Congress., A post card showing the structure in major disrepair, 1913. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill., An archeological survey in 1965 uncovered the original chimney bases and foundations, but no 18th-centuryartifacts were found., Halifax Day ceremonies, 1967. Durham Morning Herald April 13, 1967., Due to the deteriorated condition of the house, only the heavy timbers and brick from the building were purchased by the D.A.R. in 1916 for $40., The building rolls past the Owens House on the way back to its original location, 1975.